


Peaches

by LadyBrooke



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2013-12-08
Packaged: 2018-01-03 23:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had started when she was 18, and continued until the goblins had managed to drive her almost to the brink of insanity with their strange words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peaches

It started when she was 18. The day she was ready to graduate high school and get ready to go to college, she bit into a piece of toast in the morning. Except instead of toast, it was like biting into a juicy peach. 

Sarah ran to the bathroom and spit out the toast, blaming it on the nerves of getting ready to graduate high school. They would all think she was mad if she told them that her toast had tasted like peaches.

The odd peach flavored thing never really went away. The entire time she was in college, whenever something particularly bland and unappetizing was served in the cafeteria, she would occasionally bite into something to find it tasted like a peach. On rare occasions, the flavors were different, like the time that she ready to force herself to swallow the days offering of a peanut butter and banana fried sandwich, only to discover that it tasted like a roast beef and pepper jack melt. That had been a particularly good surprise.

There were odder things that happened too. Like the time that she caught a sniff of what seemed to be garbage, only to hear a small voice screaming flipperrot in the background.

Or the time that she had walked into a class on the fascinating topic of changes in the English language in the period 1940 to 1950, and the chalkboard had mysteriously begun to fill up with words like idrit. The expression on the professor’s face when he had written umbrella, only for it to turn into imprellious was impossible to forget. It had been halfway between ready to strangle someone and wondering if this was all a dream, with a dash of complete and utter humiliation.

Imprellioused had quickly become a new slang word among the students in that class.

Classes had continued in much that way for the next few years. There were always incidents when she thought she saw goblins out of the corner of her eye, right before a sign or book would change what it had said to some other word (frok had been a particularly amusing one). It had been less amusing when her essays to professors would mysteriously change what they said as well, appearing full of wirds.

One professor had even asked her if she was ill or on drugs after ioianfona appeared in an essay.

It became harder as she approached graduation. Aside from having to explain to the housing inspector why gollar was on the wall in bright red paint, she began to hear his voice again.

Of course he would be behind all of this. The Goblin King never could leave well enough alone. She supposed this was his way of having revenge on her, to have his goblins torment her and his voice singing about painting her mornings of gold when she woke up.

The last straw was when she walked into her dorm room to find a goblin sitting at her desk changing the letters that said hope into epoh.

“What are you doing?” Sarah grabbed the goblin and turned him around to look at her. “What is the purpose of all this yolaj and…”

“Potab?” The goblin suggested helpfully.

“Yes, that for example! What is the meaning of changing words all around me? Is your King trying to drive me mad?” She stared at the goblin for a moment.

“His King is trying to do nothing of the sort.”

She jumped at this, turning around only to see the Goblin King standing there. The goblin took the opportunity to disappear, diving into the mirror.

“Really, Sarah, I would have thought that your temper would have improved over the last few years.” He leaned back against the wall.

“You try having to explain the goblin’s mess away to people.” She grabbed a pillow from the chair, ready to throw it at him if needed.

Even if it probably wouldn’t work very well.

“Sarah, Sarah, Sarah…I’m positively dismayed that you do not realize the purpose behind all of this.”

“The purpose behind all of this? What possible reason could there be for destroying my hard work on my essays?”

“It was all part of the courting ritual, of course. Do you mortals not do that anymore?” Jareth raised an eyebrow.

“Courting? Who - were you trying to court me? And no, we don’t. Or we do. But it involves things like roses, dinners, and kisses, not rearranging words.”

“I gave you the dinners, I believe. Which leaves only the roses and the kisses.”

Sarah only had time to note the flowers that had appeared on her desk, before she could feel the Goblin King pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around. Some part of her was telling her to scream, but the bigger part just led her to drop the pillow and wrap her arms around him too.

“Such a pity,” Jareth finally said when he pulled back. “Courting must last five years, and we only have had four.”

“Then you have one year to make up for your previous failings. No more mixed up words, but you’re welcome to come take me to dinner.”

The next week, Sarah was surprised to wake up, not to rearranged words on her desk, but instead to a handwritten note inviting her to dinner.

When that happened for the next fifty-one weeks in a row, she was less surprised.

And when on the last date, Jareth went down on one knee and asked her to marry him, she only give him a few minutes of doubt before finally agreeing.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for July 26th, 2013 Flash Fiction Month Challenge on dA. 
> 
> It had to be inspired by something David Bowie had done/been in (check - Labyrinth), and include:  
> 10 made up words.  
> 2 change  
> A time span or lapse of five years.  
> All 5 senses 
> 
> As I love the Labyrinth, I just had to write my story based on it. :D Hopefully I didn't do too badly with it.


End file.
